Thankful Thursday

Since I couldn't seem to squeeze in a moment last week. I get to combine my weeks. Lots to ponder especially when you are away.

I will get back to our posting our trip tomorrow or at least I hope soon. Some of our great friends are homeless currently as they transition to another house while they build so we have had the special treat of having roommates for the last week and they got to stay here while we were gone. Its been so much fun and definitely makes me think cohabiting with another family could be really fun and convienent. It does help that we are pretty similar and have known each other for over a decade I think.

Do we serve a magnificent God or what?

I can't tell you how often I have been reminded of that as of late. The drive was incredible. God's creatures are so remarkable & unique. The ocean is vast and deep teaming with life. Amazing! How could any one doubt that there was a creator. Let alone think it was an exact moment of random molecules that collided to create a cosmic boom and the earth formed into what it is out of complete and utter chaos.

I know I am a girl of reason but really people, really?

But the trouble is most people do believe in a God. A Creator. Just don't really care to get to know Him. Think of Him as out of reach, judging, and unjust. However, He is exactly the opposite. He wants and desires and solely created us to know Him. To crave it. To be fully satisfied in HIM and Him alone.

Verse after verse in scripture points to it. But take a look at James 4.

⁴ You adulterers!^[a] Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵ What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the spirit God has placed within us is filled with envy?^[b] 6 But he gives us even more grace to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say,

“God opposes the proud
    but favors the humble.”^[c]

⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. ⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Admit you can't do it alone. You are a failure. You aren't perfect. You are full of sin. You have fallen short of the glory of God. Yet He knows it. And He loves you regardless. But what He desires to do is make you whole again and the only way He can is for you to pursue Him fully (100%) devoted. 

Thank you Lord for the gifts I have been given. Eyes to see Your beauty in creation. Let me never stop becoming more and more aware of YOU. 

1. quiet children - sleeping in carseats, watching movies, just pure contentment

2. their wild imaginations 

3. silencing croaking frogs on my 10 mile run

4. the pure ability to run 10 miles. i honestly can't believe my body still functions

5. winding roads - love those divided interstates

6. southern accents

7. the lure of wheels to cause a sleeping baby

8. an ombre sky effect - beautiful

9. snuggling with all our kiddos in a king size bed

10. the lapping waves of the tide

11. the tricks the sea lions and dolphins can perform  - You made them so smart

12. my hubs (32 years) - couldn't be more thankful for the best friend and partner he is

13. a complete rainbow - we couldn't quite see the whole thing due to some clouds but in awe

14. time & energy to keep training for the big race next weekend

15. Grandma Darcy's bag of tricks 

16. Shadd's quote "Its just so good to be home" - nothing like your home

17. great friends to share our home with for a few weeks - its been a fun slumber party

18. moments of discipline (especially Ells - its been a rough few weeks)

19. the flexibility and ability to enjoy Uncle J's last college golf tourney

20. making memories big and small as a family, even if its hard and more of a disaster than a success

Florida: Part 1

We are back.

We survived and really had a blast.

We traveled Saturday and Sunday (D's birthday).

his momma still spoils him. she baked him a cake and brought it along!

Enjoyed the week full of lots of golf, sun, a beach house, the beach, aquarium, nature hikes, pools, hotels, parks, etc. (I'm hoping to break it into a few posts as I have a million jillion photos and I really didn't take my good camera too much as myself plus three kiddos could be an accident waiting to happen.)

our house

Then we traveled back. Call us crazy, which we are, but we just decided to drive the entire way in a day. Yep. We left at 6:30 in the morning and pulled into our driveway around 3:15 Sunday morning. D drove the entire way - Amazing! He even tried some 5 hour energy.

The kiddos are amazing travelers. We did have a bit of help with one of them riding with Grandma and Grandpa some of the time, the dvd player and well just a few dance parties, silly jokes, beach ball fights, and a whole lot of singing.

I'm just guessing if anyone passed us they might of thought I'd had lost my mind.

All in all - we may not make it an annual thing but we are proud to say we can vacation with our kiddos. Not that it was really a vacation. Only the more tropical location and the beach got props for that but when you travel with the kiddos no one is on vacation other than maybe them. Still fun though!


 Huge thanks to the Dutch for qualifying so we could tag along. And we are so so proud of Uncle J. He did awesome and so did his team.

Plus there is nothing better than seeing the country via the van. We got to show our kiddos part of the US and I hope we get to show them more and more glimpses of this beautiful country. 

We also got to witness some of God's glory. Winding roads, split highways (I'm a total sucker for a split interstate), mountains, hills, clouds, rainbows, sunsets, sunrises, waves, sand, the sound of the gulf. Pure beauty resounding and singing praises to their Creator.

Thankful Thursday

Life is hard. Isn't it?

I have to admit mine has been pretty easy thus far. I have had a few bumps in the road, mainly injuries but overall smooth sailing. In fact, I was told by many at the doctors office that I was busy with 3 kiddos at home and sometimes stared at as crazy with all three so young. And while I admit I have trouble getting much done and sometimes I do pull my hair out. But I wouldn't change my world for a minute. I get to spend my days loving on those three and one day I will be sitting here quietly and missing them like crazy, wondering what they are doing? or when I will get to see them next.

I know you are thinking - where is she going with this?

But my bible study and devotional and the sermon and life is just teaching me that just because we are Christians and believe in Christ that our lives aren't going to be full of blessings, without suffering, perfect, and smooth sailing. No. Life is hard. We will be persecuted. We will be tried. We will suffer. We will be disciplined.

Instead scripture says in Philippians 4:11-12

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.  I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 

Paul had to learn how to be content with whatever life gave. He learned to be thankful. Then joy followed thanksgiving. Its a practice to give thanks in all things. A learned thing to be thankful which then will produce joy in the midst of trials and blessings.

The only we were ever promised when choose to follow Christ - was a life with Him. Here and now and forever. Is there any greater blessing than that. Blessings in this life are only temporary but knowing the One who created you - wow! That is eternal.

So as I continue to practice this act of thanksgiving each week - I am hoping to learn the secret in living. Its to know HIM!

1. Tom"s housing
2. The generosity of my parents
3. Open eyes to the problems many our facing not just around the world but our my backdoor
4. Excited kiddos as we travel to Florida - Shadd packed his own bag three days ago
5. My brother-in-law J: thanks to him we get to go to Florida (he's golfing at Nationals. plus he is the Dutch close up.
6. My kids singing - VBS tunes have started circling - Shadd remembered them from last year.
7. God's teaching
8. Blooming front yard trees
9. The Hubs - he celebrates his birthday as we travel. Prayfully it will be a memory that lasts a lifetime.
10. Our moms - Happy Mother's Day! We love you.
11. my errand running hubs


So since we will be out of town all next week - not much blogging of course. Instead we will be relishing the sun, the water and the beach. Oh yeah and D will be watching Uncle J kick some buns in golf.

Hoping to post a few randoms to instagram so hopefully I can document all the fun!

Insta Update

Just some random instagram photos. I love that my phone seems to capture more of the moments I just never want to forget.

She looks just like me. I have a picture when I was little on a horse like that. Crazy stuff. 

Begging me to get the pool out. This was pre snow on Thursday. I think it was Tuesday afternoon. 

Our ice cream lover

Oh boy. Watch out. 

Hunting Eggs with Aunt K

Walking the trails

Our first attempt at baking donuts in our brand new pan from a garage sale

the birthday boy

$3.00 for about as many duplos as the other container we just bought for times the amount. Love those gsales.

New bike helmets from the Easter Bunny

Climbing on literally everything

If you can't find Sage - Look in the pantry

Up close and personal with Ells

May Day

Did you guys do May day?

Well we did. The kids had a blast.

We decorated some random cups I had laying around with stickers and markers. I used up some ribbon I had cut up for Ells birthday party necklaces that ended up being too thick. Worked perfectly here for handles on our baskets.

Popped some corn and filled with treats.

Then delivered to our neighbors. I was tempted to do the whole neighborhood but that would have been like 25 baskets or something and wasn't quite that prepared. So we did our three closest neighbors with kiddos our ages.

We did get caught. Our timing just didn't ever seem to be right. One neighbor pulled in as we were leaving and the other was at church already and the last one well they had just got home and knew it was coming.

Still fun though.

Plus we got some treats from our neighbors in return.

All in all a great day.

Thankful Thursday

Yes. I know its Saturday. Whoops.

Well it snowed this Thursday - so a tough day to write a thankful post with snow in May but I spent the entire day trying to be grateful for it. It wasn't easy as it followed a beautiful weekend and couple of days. I mean we had swim suits on and the slip and slide almost broke out either monday or tuesday. But the more I thought about it what a wonderful display of God's power and sovereignty. He can make it snow any time He wants. Wow. What an amazing feat to pour snow out after a few days of 70 degree temperatures. Sometimes I wonder if He is just up in Heaven chuckling as He says, "I wonder what they will say today."

Well this thursday and friday - I chose to say, thank you Lord for making snow. For a reminder of your power, your ability & the glory of seasons and how lucky we are to experience all four.

1. snow - the beautiful white, thick blanket
2. the joy snow brings to my kids faces - they lit up when they saw it falling and covering the ground
3. the closeness of my family - attending birthday parties, growing up with cousins, etc. love it.
4. golf - i treasure that the Lord let me slow down to learn to play. now i can enjoy something my hubs loves to do plus watch uncle j compete
5. sage's dance moves - bouncing feet and spinning circles
6. ells after nap snuggles
7. shaddy - he handles the responsibility of being the oldest so well. i have the best oldest son. he watches sage while i shower, gets me things, helps ells with stuff, plays with his siblings - sometimes i don't know how i'll manage without him when he goes to school.
8. flexible schedules
9. long long runs - thankful my body makes it through them and that i get to spend quiet time to myself

Great new song...maybe its not new but I love it.
Your Great Name by Natalie Grant.

The Princess Tea

When a little girl turns three well its the perfect time to host a princess tea. And thats just what we did.

As always this mommy loves to decorate. This time I got to use my new favorite. Washi tape. If you don't have any you need to get some. I love it.  Plus a great time to use my new holders I scored from JB.

And everyone loves chevron. 

 For take home favors we made candy necklaces. It was a blast. I think the kiddos ate the candy about as fast as the momma/grandmas could put them on the string but still a ton of fun. Definitely gonna keep that one in my back pocket for a slumber party down the road.

Then the guests arrived. They were told to dress the part. Cousin M had on a princess dress. The boys had swords and crowns. Plus some of grandma's came sporting hats. It was so much fun. Plus it was beautiful outside so we got to enjoy the deck and the backyard as well. 

And of course what would a birthday party be without yummy desserts from Aunt K and Grandma Darcy. Plus a perfect princess cake. 

We had a blast celebrating Ells. Thanks to all who made it over to celebrate. She enjoyed all the gifts and we as always enjoyed having the company.